It’s a book that I started a year ago, but then really put pedal to metal in March, as lots of things became impossible to do I suddenly had a lot of time open up, a yawning chasm of time before me. Dying to be in a club that smells like a club. I mean obviously now, seven months into the pandemic, I’m just like everyone else on the planet. To day after day put oneself in the headspace of touring and try to recollect and recast the details of touring. I will say that writing a book about touring in the wake of canceled tours and canceled shows has been, mentally, the best thing that one could possibly do. Oh, I would start packing my suitcase ( laughter ). I’m wondering, what is your relationship like with touring right now? If you had to go on another tour, what would be the immediate reaction you’d have? And so there are little markers and hints dropped throughout the book that hopefully will make it possible for people to get a sense of how much time elapsed with the turn of a page. The big difference is that the first two describe events that happen within a single day of musical activity, so a concert in the first book and a marathon recording session in the second book, but this one describes 30 years of playing music on tour. There’s three lines or three paragraphs or three stanzas per page. The basic unit of the book is the individual page, and the visual disposition of the page is very similar to the other books.
It’s a book-length poem about a specific kind of musical activity.
And it’s the third and final book in the series that includes Now that the audience is assembled (2018) and The Voice in the Headphones (2020), and it’s approximately the same length. It’s called Good night the pleasure was ours. You mentioned to me over an email that you have a new book that you’re working on right now. I’ve been astonished by the speed with which you turn these interviews out and the level of detail, but I feel like, if you really want to do things, then you find the time to get them done. You just say yes, and then you’re on the hook for it. I mean, I think the common denominator is that they’re all opportunities to work with people who I adore working with. It’s always impressive whenever someone seems to be juggling a ton of different things at once. That’s a lot of stuff you’re doing, and I feel like you’re always doing stuff. So I’m kind of coming up for air after obsessively rereading, going back and forth between the laptop and printed versions. And I’m almost finished with a text for an artist’s book with John Sparagana and Reto Geiser. I approved the mastering for a recording of a solo set of mine that Che Chen is going to release in the Fire Over Heaven series. I was on a grant review panel for the Foundation for Contemporary Arts this morning, for their emergency grants, which are awesome. I had to teach today and that was pretty much my day so far. I was outside for a little bit earlier today because the weather is so nice, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. Joshua Minsoo Kim: Hey David, how are you?ĭavid Grubbs : Hey, I’m doing fine. Additional questions were asked via email in May 2021.ĭavid Grubbs before his first show in Seoul.
Joshua Minsoo Kim talked with Grubbs via phone on October 13th, 2020 to discuss his latest ventures, his time with Red Krayola, and the various collaborators he’s had throughout the years. He also has a new collaborative album with poet Susan Howe out in September via Blue Chopsticks.
His most recent albums include a live recording with guitarist Ryler Walker called Fight or Flight Simulator and a new album titled Instant Opaque Evening with Gustafsson and Mazurek in their group The Underflow.
His upcoming book, Good night the pleasure was ours, will be released in spring 2022. He also has published two book-length poems titled Now that the audience has assembled and The Voice in the Headphones, which detail a live performance and studio recording session, respectively. Grubbs has released three books published by Duke University Press, including Records Ruin the Landscape, a meditation on experimental music, their practitioners during the ’60s, and the recorded medium. He’s released numerous collaborative albums with artists including Mats Gustafsson, Taku Unami, and Loren Connors. Notably, he was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol, and was also a member of Red Krayola. David Grubbs is a composer, musician, and author who has performed and recorded music in a multitude of settings throughout his career.